Empoword

Part Three: Research and Argumentation 403 they shoot. Earl “J.R.” Smith, Dion Waiters and others live in this beloved sphere despite their questionable added benefit to their teams. A wise man, Wayne Gretzky, once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t shoot,” essentially stating that no inherent harm exists in attempting the unimaginable. Even wiser and less accomplished men boiled this down to the phrases “If You Don’t Hunt, You Don’t Eat” and “Shooters Shoot.” The Balls are shooters who walk into any room with two spoons in their holsters equipped to dine. In a widely circulated clip from a Chino Hills game earlier this year, LaMelo dribbled the basketball up from the backcourt, pointed at the half court line to indicate the spot he was going to shoot from and audaciously pulled up from the exact spot. The net subsequently swelled in the purest of ripples. LaVar did the same thing. He told the world that he would take nothing less than a billion—with a B—dollars for his sons to sign with a shoe company. The typical cash deal would not be enough, though, even if they met his billion dollar demands. Companies would need to absorb the family’s business, Big Baller Brand (or 3 Bs), rather than simply adding a swoosh or three stripes onto Ball products. They required co-branding, a partnership that would be more akin to Jordan Brand’s current relationship with Nike than to athletes like Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant’s relationships with Nike. LaVar has said, “[We] aren’t looking for an endorsement deal.... We’re looking for... a true partner” (Rovell). This is relatively unprecedented with Jordan Brand being the only real comparison in the sneaker world and that only became independent towards the end of Michael Jordan’s esteemed career ( Sole Man ). Even LeBron, Jordan’s only active peer in terms of greatness, operates wholly under Nike when it comes to shoes and athletic-wear. Naturally, all three of the major shoe companies rejected the Balls’ request (Rovell). Not only was the request itself unique but, “never in the history of modern-day shoe endorsements have the big companies all stepped away from a potential top pick nearly two months before the NBA draft” (Rovell). LaVar maintains that he does not care about the rejection and this is all for the greater good, part of the bigger plan. He said that he knew the companies would never agree to his terms but he had to get them to say no because he “wanted to make sure so when they make this mistake and they look back, they’re going to say ‘man, we should’ve just given that man a billion dollars’” (Le Batard). Some people, including FOX Sports’ Lindsey Foltin, have claimed that